Mika's new F1 carpool companion for his McLaren P1!

Mika Hakkinen and Stoffel Vandoorne prepare to go for a ride in the McLaren P1 Coupe!

A couple of months ago, Mika Hakkinen allowed the 2016 Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg behind the wheel of McLaren P1 Coupé, a special experimental version of the car of which only 11 were ever made. The pair went for a drive around the hills of Monaco, where both reside.

Obviously the occasion didn't traumatise the Finn to much, because today he's put himself through the same ordeal, only this time with current McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne joining him. The pair looked suitably effortlessly cool and stylish as they prepared to set out on their early morning drive in the countryside.

Vandoorne tweeted that he was looking forward to taking the two-time champion "for a ride"! Hopefully all went well. As of time of writing there's been no updates, although Stoffel promises to post a video of his experience in due course. In any case, the Belgian driver has to be in one piece in time for the start of the French Grand Prix race weekend

“Although Formula 1 hasn’t visited Paul Ricard for a long time, I’m actually one of the only drivers on the current grid that has driven the track," he said.

"I drove there during a Pirelli test in 2016, which was a really cool experience, and I also raced there in my Formula Renault days.

“It looks like a great track which has been very much modernised, and I think it’ll provide some great racing," he added.

"I’m looking forward to the challenge and hope we can put our last couple of results behind us."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.